§ The Earl of Sandwichasked Her Majesty's Government:
What additional funding will be available to meet the humanitarian consequences of a war in Iraq over and above existing aid budgets; and, if this is to come from the global contingency reserve, how much of that reserve is already committed in this financial year. [HL1930]
§ Baroness CrawleyThe Department for International Development's contingency reserve for the current financial year, which ends on 31 March, has already been fully allocated to emergency needs in other parts of the world. It has been used to respond to the crises in southern Africa, the Horn of Africa, Palestine and elsewhere. DfID has a budget of just under £100 million for responding to rapid onset emergencies in poor countries, as well as the contingency reserve for 2003–04, which is unallocated, both of which we would draw on for any Iraq emergency to supplement funds available from the Iraq aid framework. Combined with the department's existing programme of humanitarian support for Iraq, this might mean up to around £65 million could be available for Iraq for response to immediate needs. Discussions are taking place with other government departments on how Iraq's further funding needs could be met.